The present invention relates generally to embroidery and more particularly to methods and systems for automated detection of suitability of an image to embroidery.
Embroidery is the art of applying decorative threaded designs to fabric or textiles. In machine embroidery, embroidery designs are stitched with an automated embroidery machine that holds a limited number of thread spools and stitches a design using a number of thread colors as limited by the number of thread spools. Embroidery designs are digitized into a sequence of embroidery primitives with embroidery software, and then converted to individual stitches using a stitch engine. Methods, systems, and techniques for computer-assisted embroidery are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,695 to Goldman, U.S. Pat. No. 7,016,756 to Goldman, U.S. Pat. No. 6,947,808 to Goldman, U.S. Pat. No. 7,016,757 to Goldman, U.S. Pat. No. 7,587,256 to Goldman, U.S. Pat. No. 6,804,573 to Goldman, U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,120 to Goldman, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2010-0191364 A1 to Goldman, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2007-0118245 A1 to Goldman et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2010-0017011 A1 to Goldman et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2008-0079727 A1 to Goldman et al., and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/969,359 to Goldman et al., each of which is incorporated by reference herein for all that they teach.
Not all images are suitable for embroidery. Images best suited to embroidery are those containing only a few colors and which can be represented using simple shapes of solid color. Images with too many colors or which contain complicated or very small shapes do not translate well to embroidery. In the past, the judgment of whether or not an image lends itself well to embroidery has been left to humans with a trained eye for the types of images that will look good when translated into an embroidered image. However, it would be desirable to automate the image analysis process.